David Staller's Plush renditions of Noel, Cole

Published 4:00 am, Friday, February 2, 1996

IT WAS APPARENT when David Staller strode onto the Plush Room stage that he is not your budding cabaret singer, but rather a seasoned man of the theater - an elegantly turned out actor of many parts.

An actor who sings or a singer who acts? No matter.

The attractive Staller, in his mid-30s, took immediate command at the Plush Room on Thursday night. Combining show-biz banter, bits of historical gossip and personal philosophies with renditions of songs by Cole Porter and Noel Coward, he performed portions of his "Noel and Cole" show - a big hit on the Manhattan cabaret scene four years ago, and his debut in cabaret after years on the stage and TV.

One of the solo presentations of the ongoing weeklong first annual West Coast Cabaret Convention, the Plush Room's Staller show was an uneven affair, perhaps because he hasn't done it much in the last couple of years (his Rodgers & Hart show followed Noel and Cole) and perhaps also because at times his often robust and dramatic performance would seem better suited to a somewhat larger stage.

Staller began the program reminiscing about a boyhood experience in London when his father introduced him to a nice man who wore suede shoes and gave him a small teddy bear. "The man was Noel Coward; I took the bear (which I still have) and ran away," said Staller.

Then he gracefully moved musically into Porter's "Why Shouldn't I," from 1935, following it with Coward's "I Follow My Secret Heart," a year older. Staller's light, delicate delivery of intimate lyrics is but one of his impressive qualities, along with a particular ability to whip off such tricky Coward numbers as "Don't Put Your Daughter on the Stage, Mrs. Worthington," and the Coward parody of Porter's "Let's Do It."

Keeping up with Coward's ragtimey lyric tempos and complex compositions is tricky business, but Staller seems to enjoy the challenge and, in fact, even takes both Gertrude Lawrence's and Coward's parts in a bit of

"You Do Something To Me," both by Porter - and expanding such as Porter's "You've Got That Thing" into a frisky romp are also inventive touches in Staller's show. Such marvelous lines as "You'll never win laurels, because of your morals . . . " came across splendidly on Thursday night.

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Not as successful was a 19-song Porter medley, accomplished (sort-of) in about three minutes, and an awkward conclusion that strung together Coward's "I'll See You Again" with Porter's "True Love," "Don't Fence Me In" and "Wake Up And Dream."

Pianist and musical director for Staller is Dick Gallagher.&lt;

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